This lecture series was established in honor of Dr. Roger E. Carpenter and in honor of and in memoriam for Dr. Theodore (Ted) J. Cohn. Both were professors of the Department of Biology at San Diego State University, and both made outstanding contributions in teaching and research. Roger is a comparative physiologist in ecological and evolutionary physiology. Ted was an active insect systematist, specializing in groups of the western US and Mexico. This Carpenter-Cohn lecture, held annually each spring, highlights the research of a distinguished biologist whose research perspective is integrative and emphasizes major patterns and unifying themes in comparative biology.

The Carpenter-Cohn Lecture for 2014 will be given by Dr. Pamela Soltis, of the Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida. Dr. Soltis is curator of the Laboratory of Molecular Systematics and Evolutionary Genetics at the Museum. Her research interests include the molecular systematics of plants (especially angiosperms), polyploid evolution and its consequences, the uses of museum specimen data in biodiversity research, comparative phylogeography, especially of the southeastern USA and the Pacific Northwest, and conservation genetics of rare plant species. She has also contributed to several outreach projects, including development of educational websites for the Tree of Life and the diversity of flowers, development of educational videos on polyploidy and its significance and on the rain forest of New Caledonia and its unusual flora, participation in the Museum's Earth Day celebrations, and consultant to Lincoln Middle School science teachers for development of a "paleobotany garden" and molecular biology. She teaches or co-teaches courses in Plant Taxonomy, Principles of Systematics, Molecular Systematics, and the Phylogenetics Journal Club at the University of Florida. Dr. Soltis is an author of innumerable scientific papers in journals such as the American Journal of Botany, International Journal of Plant Sciences, Systematic Biology, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Science, and Nature. She received a "Centennial Award" from The Botanical Society of America in 2006 for outstanding service to the plant sciences and the Society, a Merit Award, the BSA's highest honor, in 2010, and was president of that society from 2007-2008. Dr. Soltis is widely known in her field for her innovative work, scientific insight, outstanding productivity, and public service. We are very pleased to have her as our Carpenter-Cohn lecturer for 2014.